“The South Barber forensics season is quickly approaching, and it is going to look much different than many are used to,” coach Meagan Henry said. “With 20 students on the team, I'm working hard to get them ready for virtual and in-person competitions this year. KSHSAA has decided that the state championship and state festival tournaments will be virtual, so in order to learn the ropes early in the season South Barber is hosting their annual invitational meet in a virtual format as well.”

Competing teams will use an online platform called Tabroom.com as the hub for virtual tournaments. Tournaments can be held synchronously (live) or asynchronously (pre-recorded), and some schools are utilizing a combination of both options. South Barber will run preliminary rounds in the asynchronous, pre-recorded format. Judges will login to Tabroom to watch and judge rounds whenever it's convenient to them on Feb. 2–3.

Henry will host a prelim judging event at the high school on Wednesday, Feb. 3, for those judges who are hesitant about the technological side. “I will have everything set up for them,” she said. Finals breaks will be posted and emailed to participating schools by Friday morning. On Saturday, students and judges will connect via Google Meetings for live, virtual finals. This can be done from the comfort of home for competitors and judges. However, Henry said she'll also have rooms set up in the high school on Saturday for local judges who want to come in.

Covid guidelines such as mask-wearing, temperature checks, and social distancing will be enforced.

Henry explained that KSHSAA has altered hosting and qualification standards to make it easier for schools to host smaller in-person tournaments this year. Traditionally, seven schools must be in attendance in order for a meet to qualify students for State. This year, that limit has been lowered to five. This will help with the in-person competitions, as it will make social distancing easier.

A number of other guidelines for Covid mitigation are also being encouraged. Many schools are struggling to find the same number of tournaments to attend this year due to the challenges of virtual competition. Henry said South Barber usually has 12-14 tournaments on their schedule – currently they are planning to attend only four. Once more schools become familiar with the virtual side of things, many coaches are hoping that some may host additional virtual tournaments later in the season. Henry is already considering hosting a second tournament if scheduling allows.